


Washington's Other Worst Kept Secret

by Lily_Padd_23



Category: The West Wing
Genre: CJ being a badass, Cute, Josh being smug, Light Angst, M/M, Sam Being Sam, Some Humor, Some references to homophobia, press, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-25 14:37:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18263354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lily_Padd_23/pseuds/Lily_Padd_23
Summary: Sam's POV the day the press finds out.  Set sometime vaguely around the first two seasons.





	Washington's Other Worst Kept Secret

Washington’s Other Worst Kept Secret  
By Lily Padd

 

        “Saaaaaaaam!” CJ spun into his office doing that thing where she seemed to appear in fragments, first her voice, then her feet, then her hands clutching papers, then her head, then the rest of her.

        “Oh God,” Sam braced himself, “What have I done?”

        “They have it,” she caught her breath.

        “Not helpful.”

She put a hand on her stomach to help slow her breathing, and her eyes got still and intense as she emphasized, _“They_ have _it.”_

Sam fumbled for words and his glasses at the same time, “What?! How did this... when did this... who... what? Why?”

        “I can’t answer all of those questions at the same time, so I’m just going to give you this,” she slapped the still-warm pages of an article she’d just had printed off onto his desk and crossed her arms.

        “Ah,” Sam said as he skimmed the page of an online article before him, the panic in his head not yet registering in his voice, “That’s what I was afraid you were referring to.”

It was a picture of him and Josh getting a drink together. Only, it was a lot more than that. It was from two nights ago, and Josh had already had four glasses of wine, and he was leaning forward on the table placing a hand on Sam’s. Without the headline you could barely make out that it was Sam. But it became pretty clear coupled with the text, “Washington’s Worst-Kept Secret: White House Deputies Having Homosexual Affair.”

        “How did you let this happen, Sam?” CJ moaned.

        “I don’t see how this is my fault!” Sam looked at her, trying to hide the pulse of affection he had for the completely love-struck expression captured on Josh’s face.

        “You let Josh get wine drunk with you in public!” CJ stabbed an accusatory fingernail into the photograph. “You know how he can’t keep his hands off you when he’s wine drunk. You have to cut off his tab!”

Sam could even remember the moment of the flashbulb reflecting in Josh’s twinkling eyes. He gulped and looked back up at CJ, “Well, nobody will take this seriously without quotes because I know we didn’t say anything to anybody.”

        “They have a ‘source close to the administration,’” she rolled her eyes.

        “God damn it,” Sam mumbled.

        “Sam,” she dropped to the chair in front of his desk, leaning her elbows onto her knees. “I'm gonna get asked about this, and I’m gonna deflect as long as I can, but we agreed that nobody is gonna lie,” she was a coach pep-talking her team through the next play. Sam loved her when she got like this. It had taken him a long time to understand it, but now, when CJ was like this, he would trust her with his life. She went on, “So I need you to just... stay in here and not talk to _anyone_. We need to let them chase their tails on this until _they_ start to look silly. And anything you say keeps it alive for a news cycle longer than it had to.”

Sam nodded. It had been what they decided when they’d come out to their co-workers last year. They had spent an uncomfortably long and invasive night shut up in Leo’s office with Toby and CJ planning strategies. They had decided that the worst thing they could do was respond as if it was a scandal.

Like the article said, they were a poorly kept secret. Most insiders sort of knew and didn’t care. Most insiders had always figured as much even before Josh and Sam knew. It was just something people didn’t talk about, like Hoynes’ AA meeting or the Whip’s child out of wedlock. The kinds of things people tended to just not look at. Because for the most part, as soon as you touched somebody’s personal life, you risked having your own spilled out. Nobody with a vendetta against the President had gotten wind yet. Or at least not enough confirmed information to effectively use it against them. And if the press had heard whispers about it, it was never enough to warrant a story. Until now. Until somebody had caught a picture _just_ romantic enough to elicit a comment from someone. Someone who wanted to hurt them, or someone who just didn’t know any better than to say, “yeah they’re dating.” Sam wasn’t sure which one bothered him more: malicious intentions or just plain careless ignorance. At least the former was predictable. But that didn’t matter right now. How it got out mattered less than what to do now that it had.

This had always been the game plan. To treat it like a non-issue. To keep Josh and Sam from being the story. To keep who knew when from becoming the story. To make bigots who held it against them the story. To make “the press won’t shut up about staffers personal lives while we have actual news to cover” the story. It would be a case of “we’ve always known, they reported their relationship in the appropriate fashion, and it doesn’t prevent them from doing their jobs.” And after that it would be “there’s a reason they call it a private life” and moving on.

It was a good plan. But it was about to be tested in real time. A famous saying of Eisenhower’s started cycling through Sam’s head about plans only mattering until the first shot is fired.

        “Sam?” CJ snapped his attention back. “Sam, are you listening to me?”

        “Yes!” Sam sat forward.

        “Because we don’t have control of this right now. We are starting this on their terms. And in order for me to do my job and get this back on our terms, I need you to be ready to not say anything to anybody no matter how hurtful or insulting their questions are. Okay?”

        “Okay!” Sam made a zipped-lip gesture and threw the imaginary key over his shoulder.

        “I’m serous, Sam!” her fists clenched around the arm rests, “I need to you lock yourself in here and be so damn preoccupied with running the country that they start to feel too busy just _looking_ at you. I brief in less than an hour, and this is the first, the _first_ thing I’m gonna get asked. And I don’t need you giving them anything else but what I tell them, do you understand?”

Sam nodded. If they were going to play this right, it had to be CJ’s game.

        “Okay.” CJ stood, letting her shoulders relax ever so slightly. “Where’s the other one?”

        “Josh?” Sam said, “Josh is...” and then it struck him that Josh was on the Hill for a meeting with the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and had been for the past several hours. He would be walking out of there completely oblivious.

Sam’s realization must have spread across his face because the beginnings of calm that CJ had begun to display were gone and her posture resumed its crazy, panicked, bug-eyed mode. “Sam!! Get him!! Get him now!! Warn him!!”

        “Bonnie!” Sam screamed.

They both flew to their phones and pagers and every other way they could think of to get a hold of Josh. When that failed, they tried the staff of the Senators he was meeting and the staff of the Senators next door to the Senators he was meeting, but they couldn’t get him.

        “Alright, I’m going over there!” Sam declared finally.

        “No, Sam, you leave this building, they’ll descend upon you like a flock of vultures in the desert.” CJ shouted, “You do not move. Send Donna.”

Sam began to call for Donna, but Bonnie had already appeared in the door, her eyes wide, the remote control in her hands, “Boss, you should probably turn on your TV.”

Sam looked past her to the TV in the bullpen and saw Josh walking out of the Capitol, flanked by the Press Secretaries of the two co-sponsors of the new energy bill. Sam’s heart sank as the press surrounded him. Josh waved with a humored smirk, and he began trying to push his way down the steps. It hadn’t hit him yet, Sam figured.

Sam followed CJ back into his office, her hands flashing across Sam’s remote. Both of them were struck completely silent as the image of Josh appeared on the screen. Josh looked totally tranquil behind a pair of black Ray-bans, his tie a little loose from a no-doubt spirited debate, his hands shoved in his pockets. His face was twitching between being confused and that cocky half-smile he had that seemed to say, “Damn, I knew the bill was good, but I didn’t know it was _this_ good.”

Then the first question came, “Mr. Lyman, what is your relationship with Sam Seaborn?”

Sam watched for a reaction. It was minute: Josh dropped his head forward just enough to peep over the rim if his sunglasses, eyebrows raised, his tongue in his cheek. After a split second, Josh straightened back up and answered, “Tumultuous,” having barely missed a beat.

        “Oh God.” Sam said for what felt like the seventh time in the past ten minutes “He’s trying to be funny.”

        “Give him a second,” CJ grabbed his arm, “It might work.”

        “Mr. Lyman, Mr. Lyman,” another reporter was asking, “What is the nature of your relationship with Sam Seaborn?”

        “Well, we both live in the city,” Josh replied, “But they’ve got some potted plants around the office.”

        “When has being funny ever worked for him?” Sam hissed at CJ, “Secret plans to fight inflation don’t invent themselves.”

        “Ferns, I think?” Josh continued.

        “It’s so stupid it might just be brilliant,” CJ’s eyes were locked on the screen, “It’ll set the tone that we’re not taking it seriously, that we’re not gonna let it get under our skin. It’ll fizzle out a lot sooner if they don’t get their desired reaction.”

        “The ‘your sister will stop poking you if you stop acting annoyed by it’ approach,” Sam said.

        “Exactly,” CJ confirmed, “They can’t hold it against us if we shrug it off.”

Sam swallowed nervously, letting a hand float to grab CJ’s as if to anchor himself as he leaned against his desk.

The questions went on, “Josh, is it true that have you been having an affair with Sam Seaborn?”

        “I reject your premise,” Josh stopped as he reached the bottom step of the Capitol, “Last time I checked, neither one of us is married, so I don’t understand how either of us could be having an affair with anyone.”

Someone practically shoved a microphone in his face, “Why are you avoiding the question, Josh? Are you ashamed?”

Sam felt his palms grow sweaty and hot red anger flashed behind his eyes. CJ squeezed his hand knowing full well that that was exactly the kind of question Sam wouldn’t have been able to resist leaping to an invisible soapbox and lecturing by way of answering.

        “I’m sorry, what’s the question?” Josh was holding back a chuckle. His cavalier attitude was clearly driving the reports crazy. Just like CJ predicted.

        “Mr. Lyman, are you sleeping with Sam Seaborn?” the same reporter asked, the microphone getting even closer to Josh’s face.

Josh cleared his throat, taking a step back and removing his sunglasses, “Well, that’s the first time I’ve heard that particular question, so I’m not sure how I could have been avoiding it.”

        “Are the rumors true that you and White House Deputy Communications director Sam Seaborn have been having an affair?” a different reporter inquired loudly.

        “Again, if Sam has gotten married since the last time I saw him four hours ago, wouldn’t that make _her_ the other women?” Josh responded with that same tongue-in-cheek expression as he folded his shades into his shirt pocket.

        “Are you a homosexual?” the question prompted another hand squeeze from CJ. Sam ran through what his own answer might have been: my sex life if none of your business; even though _I’m_ gay, homosexuals aren’t the only people who have same-sex relationships; and why do you care, it’s not like I’d have any legal protections under the law. But all three of those would have been terrible because not only would they confirm the question, they’d also reveal even more than the question had asked and could have even been read as a criticism of the President.

Josh simply answered in a sarcastically flirtatious tone, “Slow down, buy a guy dinner first.” And Sam couldn’t help but laugh.

        “Does the President know that you’re a homosexual?” a reporter tried to corner him.

        “That’s good, I see what you did there!” Josh replied, pointing a finger towards them.

The same reporter followed up with, “Mr. Lyman, why _have_ you been sleeping with Sam Seaborn?”

Raising a suggestive eyebrow, Josh answered, “Have you _seen_ Sam Seaborn?”

Sam felt himself blush, and CJ groaned a little before the next reporter asked, “How long have you and Sam Seaborn been seeing each other in a sexual capacity?”

Josh gave a full grin and one of those sly “yeah right” snickers before snorting, “D’yeah, I’m not gonna tell you that.”

        “Mr. Lyman, would you…” an exasperated reporter began.

        “Look, you guys, I know that for whatever reason you all think my private life is incredibly interesting right now, but trust me, it’s not, and I don’t really think this is the appropriate place for me to be talking about it,” Josh interrupted holding up his hands, “What I _do_ want to tell you about is that I just got out of a very productive meeting with Senators Russet and Drake regarding the new Energy Bill. The President is really excited to be working alongside them to champion bi-partisan legislation to make alternative energy more accessible for all Americans. Throughout the week, we’ll also be meeting with representatives from International NGOs to discuss future collaborations on Project LIGHT, which is a series of new cross-sector initiatives to get solar technology fully incorporated in low-income communities around the world by 2020. So I’ll refer you to the staffs of Senators Drake and Russet to answer any questions you may have about the topics we were discussing this afternoon, and we are looking forward to telling you all about this bill in the coming days. Thanks everybody!”

The litany of “Mr. Lyman, Mr. Lyman,” shouts that followed him as he made his way down the sidewalk back towards the White House were quickly drowned out by Senator Russet’s press secretary announcing that she would take questions about the bill.

CJ turned off the TV and swiveled to face Sam, her face a mix hopefulness, fear, and the expectation for Sam to offer his take on what had just happened.

Before logic could censor the adrenaline, Sam blurted, hopping up and down a little, “God, I want to jump his bones right now.”

 

~*~

 

Ten minutes later, Josh came huffing through the bullpen, smoke coming out of his ears.

        “How the _hell_ did that happen?” he was blustering. Staffers were skirting out of his was as he blew towards CJ’s office.

        “Josh, Josh, _Josh!”_ Sam skidded to catch up with him, yanking his arm, “She’s about to go in; it’s too late to say anything else.”

Josh fumed silently, turning his head back and forth.

        “Josh,” Sam’s voice steadied, “It’s done.”

Josh’s nostrils flared, and he pulled his arm free from Sam’s grip, “That was an _ambush!”_ he ranted, storming towards his office, “I was _ambushed!”_

His door slammed, and Sam took a deep breath. Then he slowly closed his own door, dodging eye contact with the staring communication, staffers and settled into his chair before flicking on the TV to tune into what CJ was saying.

        “Good afternoon, everybody,” she began as upbeat as she could force herself to be, “The President’s meeting with the delegation from Montenegro has been pushed back until 4:30 due to an unexpected air traffic delay on their side. Additionally, Senator Russet will be taking questions about the clean energy proposal on the Hill later today at… two o’clock.”

Blowing full steam ahead, somebody in the middle of the room cried, “CJ, can you comment on the rumors that two White House senior staffers are have been engaged in a homosexual affair?”

Sam sighed, trying to burry himself further into his chair.

        “I _could_ comment on rumors, but I’m not going to.” CJ replied turning her gaze to call on another reporter, “Mark?”

Mark asked more specifically if she could comment on an unnamed source close to the administration saying that their relationship was Washington’s worst-kept secret.

        “You guys,” CJ played the disappointed authority figure, “When are you going to learn about me and anonymous source? Julia then Kate.”

        “CJ _are_ Josh Lyman and Sam Seaborn sleeping together?” Julia asked emphatically.

        “Not at this precise moment, as far as I know,” a mischievous look drifted onto CJ’s face, “They’re pretty busy guys.”

       _“CJ!”_ Julia insisted, “Be straight with us!”

Sam watched CJ bite her lip and playfully raise an eyebrow as the possibilities of numerous puns visibly scampered in and out of her mind before she cried, “Yes!” she threw up her hands in mock surrender, “Josh Lyman and Sam Seaborn have been in a romantic relationship for several years now. They disclosed their relationship in the appropriate channels for workplace involvements, and they have never let their relationship interfere with their jobs in the slightest. Their first priority has been and continues to be serving the President of the United States, and right now, they’re serving the President by, among a slew of other things, working with the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to shape a landmark clean energy platform. So, who has questions for me about solar panels because I memorized _pages_ of statistics just for you, like, did you know that last year alone, the US generated nearly five hundred million kilowatt hours of renewable energy through solar panels and with this bill we could increase our solar panel generation to fifty times that much in the next fifteen years?”

Lifting himself from his seat, Sam moved to Josh’s office wondering if this was what it was like to be in a daze, his legs seeming to wiggle like they did when he got off a boat. He rapped on Josh’s door and heard the faint, irritated “Yeah?” in response. He slipped in, letting the door fall shut behind him. Josh was perched on the corner of his desk, stone-faced, eyes fixated on the TV. Sam maneuvered to stand slightly to the side and back of Josh and placed a hand on his shoulder. Josh leaned sideways and fell against Sam’s chest with a deep exhale.

        “She was great,” Sam said softly.

        “Mmm hmm,” Josh replied with an utter lack of energy as Sam fondly, soothingly ran his hands through Josh’s curls.

     _“You_ were great.” This prompted a scoff from Josh, so Sam repeated, “You _were_ great.”

Another exhausted exhale burned from Josh’s throat, and he whispered, “I’m just glad it was me and not you.”

Sam chortled, “Why, because you think I wouldn’t have been able to refrain from proselytizing?”

        “No!” Josh was taken aback by Sam’s misunderstanding of his meaning, “Because they’re assholes, and I don’t want them anywhere _near_ you.” There was a long pause before Josh seemed to almost whimper, “I don’t want them to hurt you.”

Sam smiled at Josh’s unexpected earnestness and ducked to let his chin drop to Josh’s shoulder, his arms around his waist.

        “You don’t have to protect me, Josh,” Sam whispered, “We’re in this together.”

        “You’re so saccharine,” Josh said, folding his hands, clicker and all, over Sam’s and let out another one of those sighs. They breathed against each other until their inhales and exhales slipped into unison.

        “Okay,” Sam murmured, like pulling himself out of a dream, “I should probably get back to polishing off the President’s Montenegro remarks,”

        “Okay,” Josh sounded like he’d just woken up, “Just a few more seconds, though.”

So Sam stayed for another minute, kissing Josh’s hair, “We still on for dinner tonight?”

        “Mmm hmm,” Josh allowed Sam to step away from him and he moved to sit in his chair, watching Sam leave.

Just before he opened the door, Sam threw over his shoulder, “I’ll love you forever.” It was their automatic goodbye, almost like an impulse at this point.

        “And a day,” Josh added reflexively as he rolled his chair towards his computer. It was the perfect call and response for them because Sam got to be his sappy, verbose self, and Josh got to be affirming without feeling vulnerable. Sam couldn’t exactly remember when it started, but it was now as seemingly involuntary as telling somebody to have a nice day. They didn’t even think about it anymore.

But then Josh surprised him by calling quietly, “Sam?” Sam turned around and his eyes met Josh’s, full of sincerity and love, “Sam, I mean it, y’know.”

Sam was a little too flabbergasted to do anything but nod in return.

 

~*~

 

That night was one of the first in a while that Josh got out before Sam. Sam and Toby had holed themselves in Toby’s office to work on the President’s clean energy remarks for tomorrow using the new information Josh had negotiated that afternoon. Josh had managed to slip away unnoticed in the middle of CJ’s evening press briefing, and was hiding in his car to avoid both the press and Leo finding him and giving him something else to do.

As they were finishing up a section on hydropower, CJ appeared at Toby’s door. For a moment she just watched as Toby edited over Sam’s shoulder. Sam furiously scribbled on a legal pad, sleeves rolled up. He moved his gaze towards CJ, who was looming in the doorway, a concerned expression on her face.

        “Uh oh.” Sam said. He had been too busy on the speech to pay attention to CJ’s briefing. Who knows what had taken place in there?

        “Can we help you?” Toby crossed away from where Sam sat on the couch and to his chair, giving CJ an annoyed look.

        “Something just occurred to me that probably should have occurred to me sooner,” she said haltingly.

        “Which is…” Toby prompted, sitting at his desk and looking up at her.

        “That if we don’t let them make Josh and Sam the story that they’ll make the President’s stance on gay issues the story,” CJ sighed, “And the reason that this occurred to me is because I just got asked about what the President thinks about Josh and Sam’s relationship.”

        “What did you say?” Toby asked in that calm-before-the-storm forced even keeled thing he did right before he blew up.

        “I said that I haven’t asked the President, but he probably has too much on his plate to devote a lot of his energy to thinking about Josh and Sam’s personal life,” CJ replied, coming into the room and sitting next to Sam on the couch.

Sam took off his glasses and said, “Isn’t that pretty much exactly what we agreed we’d say when asked questions about our relationship?”

        “They weren’t trying to ask what the President thinks about your relationship, Sam,” CJ interrupted, “They were trying to use your relationship to ask about the President’s views on gay relationships in general.”

        “The President has always been a supporter of the gay community,” Toby said, “That’s your answer. Next time they ask, that’s your answer.”

        “My fear, _Toby,_ is that giving them nothing will give them an opening for speculation,” she began, “And I was okay with that speculation was about Josh and Sam’s love life because that just makes them look superficial and gives us the high ground. But speculating about the President’s views and how those views might influence policy is a whole different ballgame. Avoiding those questions doesn’t make us look like we’re focused on more important things, it makes us look evasive.”

A long pause fell, and Sam could feel his stomach doing flips as Toby’s face registered the predicament. They looked at each other, and Sam tried to think of a response, but he knew CJ was right. And he knew Toby did, too.

        “You guys, I think it’s time we all had a talk with the President about taking a more decisive stand on gay rights.” CJ finally said.

        “No,” Sam turned to face her, “Josh would be _mortified_ if our love life forced the President’s hand on anything.”

        “What better time for him to do it than now, Sam?” CJ said, “He’ll have the two of you as examples of hardworking, decent, gay Americans who live normal lives like…”

        “It’ll look like he’s been influenced by our relationship!” Sam cried, “And that would completely undermine the narrative that our relationship isn’t affecting our work.”

        “Sam,” Toby said calmly.

        “No, we aren’t going to let him do anything he wouldn’t be doing if this wasn’t happening,” Sam stood up, “We’d rather let them make the story about us and who wears the pants and where we go to dinner than let them make it about the President.”

        “Well, I’d rather them not do that, Sam!” CJ yelled up at him, “I’d rather use this as an opportunity to elevate the level of discourse on social policies that actually matter than let them reduce their coverage of us to that of a tabloid,” she stood up, tossing her binder down for emphasis, “This is an opportunity to make a difference for people, real people.”

        “My relationship is not a political statement!” Sam barked back.

        “YES IT IS!” CJ screamed, throwing her hands in the air, her eyes huge. Then her voice turned quiet and angry, “Yes. It. Is.” A silence fell across Toby’s office like a window had just shattered. CJ and Sam stood glaring at each other, Toby looking back and forth between them. Sam felt a vein throb in his neck, his hands balled into such tight fists that he could feel his fingernails digging lines in his palms. CJ finally said, “It shouldn’t have to be. But it is.”

When Sam finally managed to move, he looked down at his shoes, and put his glasses on and took them back off. Then he opened his mouth to say, “It shouldn’t have to be,” but nothing came out but air. He cleared he throat and said louder, “It shouldn’t have to be.”

        “She’s right, Sam,” Toby said bluntly.

        “I don’t want them deciding what my relationship is,” Sam whispered, looking over at the wall, avoiding eye contact with CJ and replacing his glasses on his face, hoping they’d hide the wateriness of his eyes.

        “They got to decide that your love life is a political statement,” CJ’s voice was steady, “But you get to decide what that statement is. And a lot of people are listening.”

        “A lot of people who are going to hate Josh and hate me and hate the President,” Sam added bitterly.

        “A lot of people who are going to want to drag you out of here by your ankles,” CJ went on, “But do you know who else is listening?” She paused and gave a brief glance to Toby who nodded slowly as Sam looked back at her, “The Lowell Lydels of the world are listening. And they’re probably pretty in awe of you right now. They’re listening to you Sam, so what are you going to tell them?”

Sam swallowed and let his hands relax a bit. He turned to Toby with raised eyebrows, and Toby silently nodded, telling him they were done for the day. Giving CJ a final look, and taking a quick in breath, he slowly moved back to his office and gathered his things.

 

~*~

 

The cell phone call came just as Sam was walking out of his office.

        “Sam Seaborn?”

        “Hey, you on your way or what?” Sam could practically hear Josh’s eyebrows rising caustically, “The constellations have visibly changed positions since I got out here.”

        “I’m on my way,” Sam smiled fondly.

        “Listen, there are a couple of reporters still out front if you want to try and slip out through the Oval,” Josh said, “I don’t think they’ve seen me.”

        “No, I think I’m gonna go out the front,” Sam’s voice was casual but pointed.

        “Yeah?” Josh asked knowingly.

        “Yeah.”

        “See you in a sec?”

        “Love you.” And Sam hung up, and the slight brisk of autumn air answered him through his pea coat. Slipping his phone and glasses into his pocket and stepping through the gate, he smiled at the handful of reporters who approached him. He saw Josh in his car beginning to roll down the window and stick his eyes over the top to watch Sam.

        “Good evening!” Sam said in his characteristically chipper tone, glancing over at Josh’s eyes, which grounded him. “How’s it going?”

One of them started in right away with, “Sam, can you tell us what the President thinks about your relationship with Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman?”

        “I gotta be honest with you, Cindy, we’ve got a pretty long list of things we discuss on a given day, and my relationship is not usually one of them,” Sam started, the reporters clearly irked to be getting the stiff again. But then Sam went on, “I will tell you that he doesn’t treat me or Josh any differently now that he knows about our relationship than he did before.”

        “Sam, does the President’s acceptance of your relationship with Josh Lyman signal a shift in the administration’s policy towards gay rights?” another reporter asked.

        “I feel lucky every day to have the personal support of my employer and to know that I am safe to be out as a gay man in a committed relationship. But the President’s acceptance of our relationship signals nothing about his policy decisions. His policies decisions signal his policy decisions,” Sam answered, “I can, however, assure you that, as two of the President’s top advisors, Josh and I will do everything we can to ensure that those policy decisions reflect the interests of all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation, which the President firmly believes to be the right thing to do. Because he knows that not everyone is as fortunate as Josh and I.”

        “Sam, don’t you think that having two gay senior staffers in the White House will create an unfair bias for gay issues?” someone else asked.

Sam chuckled, “You mean like how having thousands of straight White House staffers creates an unfair bias for straight people?” The reporters laughed and the one who asked the question opened her mouth to follow up, but Sam cut her off, “Look, the President makes an effort to surround himself with people of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and walks of life. We can all be better about that. Having a variety of points of view represented in the administration simply means that more Americans will be represented in the administration’s decisions, and I am proud to work for the most racially diverse cabinet in history, which includes three African-Americans, an Asian-American, and a Latina. I am proud to serve in a White House where women make up about 10 percent of staffers, another historical high. I am also proud to be one of the first two openly gay senior staffers. And to those of you who have a problem with the current number of non-white, female, and gay voices this administration has brought to the table, I am right there with you. Those numbers should be a lot higher.”

        “Sam can you tell us…” the first reporter started.

        “I’d love to stay here and chat,” Sam glanced at his watch and then over to where Josh was beaming at him from the car, “But I’ve got a date, and you’ve probably heard that he’s not a fan of being kept waiting, so thanks very much, and have a good night!”

A few more reporters called after him as he strode to the car, but he ignored them. Josh leapt out of the driver’s seat, grinning widely at Sam and walking around the front of the car to open the door for him.

        “That was a sight to see,” Josh quietly gushed as Sam approached him, “I mean, I did see it, though I could not exactly hear everything you said, you looked pretty good saying it.”

Laughing, Sam sat in the passenger seat, and just as Josh began to close the door and walk back, Sam grabbed his sleeve and whispered, “Let’s give the people what they want.”

        “What?!” Josh spat, a little confused. Before he could protest, Sam took his lapel and pulled him down to plant a deep, wet kiss on his lips. The camera flashes went crazy, and afterwards, Josh stood up, flummoxed, looking a little like someone had just punched him.

        “Come on,” Sam grabbed the door handle and began to slam it shut, “Where are you taking me?”


End file.
